The enjoyment of the holiday season lies in both the giving and receiving of gifts. Marquette's student-athletes put giving at the forefront, as their efforts brought Christmas cheer to those less fortunate.

The team is home for the first time in 2013 for the Marquette Challenge, facing USC and TCU - coach Bond Shymansky, Rachel Stier and Julie Jeziorowski talk about coming home, plus the best dynamic duos.

2013: Recorded eight digs against then No. 3 USC in a three set loss (Sept. 6) ... Notched eight kills against then No. 3 Penn State (Sept. 13) ... Notched a season-high 11 digs in a five-set victory at DePaul (Sept. 28) ...

2012: Ended her junior campaign second on the squad with 2.57 digs per set ... Played in all 34 matches and started 10 times at defensive specialist ...Tallied 11 digs vs. Louisville (Nov. 18) in the title match of the BIG EAST Conference Championship ...Recorded 13 digs against Notre Dame (Sept. 28) in MU's five-set victory ...Matched a season-high with 14 digs vs. Pacific (Sept. 14) in the opening match of the Marquette Invitational ...Collected 12 digs in three out of MU's four matches in the Ambassador Hotel Golden Eagle Classic, including the win over No. 23 Michigan (Sept. 7) and five-set loss vs. Northern Iowa (Sept. 9) ... Notched 14 digs vs. Northwestern (Aug. 26) in title match of the Marquette Challenge... Became seventh player in program history to record 1,000 digs after notching six digs in a 3-1 victory over Xavier (Nov. 22)... Notched 7 digs in a four-set victory on senior night over Butler (Nov. 23)...

2011:Tied a season-high with 18 digs in BIG EAST semifinal loss to Cincinnati (Nov. 19) ... Notched 13 digs at West Virginia (Oct. 30) as the Golden Eagles moved to 10-0 in the BIG EAST ... Had a season-high 18 digs against Seton Hall to help MU respond from a 2-0 deficit ... Tallied 12 digs in win at UConn (Oct. 1) ... Hauled in 13 digs against USF (Sept. 25) ... Notched 16 digs against No. 9 Minnesota (Sept. 18) in the Marquette Challenge ... Tallied 11 digs against Akron (Sept. 9) ... Notched 10 digs in a sweep of Creighton (Sept. 3) in the final match of the Bluejay Invitational ... Recorded 10 digs at Iowa (Aug. 27) in the finale of the Hawkeye Challenge ... BIG EAST All-Academic.

2010:Notched a career-high 20 digs against Toledo (Sept. 12) as MU's libero...Donned the libero jersey for the first time in her career against Milwaukee and registered 14 digs...Recorded 10 digs against both UC Irvine (Sept. 3) and St. Mary's (Calif.) (Sept. 5) in trip to home state of California...Started all three matches at the Golden Gopher Invite and recorded six digs in first collegiate contest vs. Stony Brook (Aug. 27.) ...BIG EAST All-Academic.

High School: Stier was a four-time letter winner in volleyball at Bishop O'Dowd High School...MaxPreps.com Division III First Team All-State member in 2009 after helping the Dragons to their first ever Northern California tournament championship game...Under head coach Mike Gee, Stier was named First-Team All-East Bay by the Contra Costa Times in 2008 and 2009...Chose Marquette over Georgia Tech...PrepVolleyball.com "Senior Ace"...In additon to her solid play on the court, where she registered 436 digs in 2009, Stiel is also a star in the classroom, garnering all-state and all-conference scholar-athlete honors all four years...She is a successful junior volleyball player with the nationally renown Golden Bear Volleyball Club and started at libero for three seasons under head coach Emerson Salonga.

Personal: Stier is the only child of Paul and Tina Stier ... Born in Berkeley, Calif. ... Majors in public relations with a minor in marketing ... President of Marquette's SAAC chapter as a junior and senior.